WASHINGTON — Another convoy of supplies and donations gathered by D.C. Police officers are headed to Florida to help aid in the cleanup and recovery once Hurricane Irma runs its course through the state.
Two trailers full of food, water, clothing, cleaning supplies and other items rolled out from a D.C. Police supply depot just after 9 a.m. on Sunday.
Where those supplies end up still isn’t clear though.
“It’s kind of up in the air,” said Matt Mahl, the chairman of the D.C. Police Union.
On Friday, when it looked like Irma was going to travel up the east coast of Florida, the plan was deliver the supplies to Miami.
That plan has since changed.
“I know we’re not going to Miami now,” Mahl said. “Our contacts in Miami have got us in contact with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department so we can help them.”
Monroe County is by the Florida Keys though, and at this point it’s far from certain that the roads will be passable.
“We don’t know if we’ll be able to get there,” Mahl admitted.
He seemed confident Sunday morning that they’d be able to at least access the northern Keys when they arrive Monday.
“We’re going to take about 12 hours to get down to Charleston, South Carolina, this evening, spend the night, watch what Irma does throughout the night and into the morning,” Mahl said.
“Once morning breaks on Monday we’ll start creeping into Florida and setting up shop.”
Mahl and four other members of the union make up the convoy headed south.
Both trailers are nearly full with goods collected by police in D.C. and other parts of the region, as well as local businesses and people around here who simply wanted to help.
Locally based Fry Plumbing even lent the department one of its trailers to help deliver the supplies.
On Friday two other trailers full of supplies left D.C. bound for Texas, to help authorities cleanup from Hurricane Harvey.
They arrived in Port Arthur, Texas, around 2 p.m. on Saturday, emptied out their trailers there, and are expected to start driving back to D.C. today.
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